Fallout: A Chance To Start Anew
by TheSans
Summary: One has to start anew when everything he believes in gets destroyed.
1. chapter 1

**_Author's note:_**

 ** _Author's note:_** ** _Hey everyone this is my first attempt ever at writing a fanfic, but always wanted to write one so I thought why not._** ** _Reviews and critics are appreciated. Please enjoy._** ** _I do not own any rights to Fallout._**

Chapter one: Sorrow

Capital Wasteland: 2277

Jack Hernandez was lucky. The Enclave captain wasn't present, when Adams Airforce Base was destroyed by the Brotherhood Of Steel and the 'Lone Wanderer', utilizing their own orbital weapons. But was he really lucky? Or were his fellow brethren slaughtered by the Brotherhood and their new 'friend' the lucky ones? He was out on patrol when he found out that everything he held dear was just...gone...

Taking out two pictures he wished to be dead to be able to join the people on the picture in whatever afterworld they could've existed in. The first picture was an older one depicting a proud man in his thirties proudly wearing his Enclave Power Armour. It was Allain 'Al' Hernandez, Jack's father. He had died in 2254, two years after Jack was born. 'Al' was born on the Enclave Oil Rig in 2220 and he had taken part in the long journey of the Enclave remnants led to D.C. led by Autumn Sr. 'Al' also had a brother named James. He was born in 2226. He was a bright mind and according to rumors he could've been the Enclave's next top scientist. But he was not loyal to the Enclave, which made him pretty unpopular among the top brass. When James and 'Al' died it was spoken of "talent gone lost".

On the second picture was Jack's mother Jessica standing proudly next to Jack himself on the day he graduated from "school". She came from a small community named "New Canaan" that was located somewhere in Utah, which itself was part of the "Four States Commonwealth" before the Great War. Apparently they were Mormons from Vault 70, which made them -in the view of the radical Enclave members- one of the "few bastions of pure humans" in the post war U.S. After the community made contact with the Enclave forces passing through, she fell in love with one of the soldiers helping them further establish the city, as they had fled their old home "New Jerusalem" after it had been destroyed by savages. As almost all of her family had died trying to flee that graveyard she decided to join her love and head on east with the Enclave. After arriving at Raven Rock she, along with James became Autumn Sr's apprentice and she turned out to be quite good at scientific research. She gave birth to her son in 2252, whom she named Jack Augustus after her mentor who had passed away in the same year. After Al's death in 2254 Colonel Augustus Autumn Jr. took on the father role for Jack and taught him all skills that would help him survive in the wasteland 25 years after his birth on that faithful day of the 25th of December 2277, the day Adams AirForce Base would be destroyed with roughly most of the Enclave leadership and most of the personnel. But not all of them, albeit he would not know, nor care as he had a promise to fulfill.

FLASHBACK 5 MONTHS AGO: RAVEN ROCK

"You wanted to speak with me Colonel?"

"For god's sake Jack we're in my office son" said Augustus Autumn "Sorry dad. Back to the topic at hand. You wanted to talk with me before I hit out on patrol?"

"Yes, I do. You see, since this Vaultie from 101 has appeared many patrol have gone and are going MIA" the ringing of a device interrupted the colonel "there goes another one... this has had the consequence that there are many more BoS patrols roaming around. We're outnumbered 3:1" Walking to a wallsafe he took out a key and a map. "Dad what are these for?""I fear that something bad is going to happen soon. Take these: This key is for a small armory in SatCom Array NW-07c where you can stock up on food, water, stimpacks, armor, ammo and other things and this is the map of our journey from the west coast to Raven Rock with details like the various Vertibird refueling stations." The colonel said. "Dad, where are you going with all of this? Wait... You're not sayi-""I think I am. In the worst case I want you to head there, grab as much as you can and get the hell out of here!"

 ** _I hope you enjoyed this first very short chapter. There wasn't any action in this chapter as I wanted to build up some backstory (this will probably be the case for at least the next chapter), that will affect the later chapters of this story. I'm trying to make this story canon friendly, and I will use the fallout wiki for information about characters. For example New Jerusalem and Vault 70 are from Fallout Van Buren. I have plans for the course of this story and you can take part in this story in the form of a character or place you suggest that I could accept, but I only accept serious and good ones that come from my dms._**

 ** _Note that English isn't my mother tongue so if I have written something wrong please correct my mistakes in the comments_**

 ** _Comments and reviews are appreciated._**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Second chapter let's go!_**

He started making his way to the armory located at SatCom Array NW-07c. On the way he saw some Talon Company Mercs fighting against Regulators over what seemed to be a group of slaves. Jack decided to neither help the Regulators nor the Talon Company Mercs, as he would never want to help people who hunted down and killed his fellow Enclave personnel and he thought that Talon Company was a group of savages who needed to be wiped out. "Let them kill each other." he thought.

[Later that day]

He arrived at the array, but something was wrong... SatCom Array NW-07c was an Enclave outpost, with at least a handful soldiers and scientists always being stationed there. 'Must've been recalled during the attack.' he thought without worrying much. Several minutes later he saw Enclave Vertibirds taking off, but they were being shot at... by Brotherhood Of Steel soldiers? They were lead by some high ranking person though, which was strange for itself. Why take a high ranking soldier with you, when your objective is some small outpost? Jack took his time and examined the squad, not realizing that the Vertibirds were already off in the distance and the BoS was closing in on the outpost. He quickly finished and went into the building, hoping to not have been seen by the Brotherhood soldiers.

Once inside he quickly locked the entrance and went to the Commanding Officer's desk and accessed his terminal, hoping to find out more about the two vertibirds's destination. He only found one log, which led him to the conclusion that the rest had been deleted as some sort of security measure. He accessed the log:

"Brotherhood $# *%=? attack on Adams ~§ Mobile [-(]§ Crawler destroyed. Will use vertibirds to evac to /-%#$. Y. !DATA CORRUPTED BEYOND RECOVERY!"

He logged out of the terminal and went to the armory. Using his key he opened it and went inside. To his disappointment it was pretty empty, "The guys who evacuated this place took most of the stuff..." he thought. Looking around the barren armory he found a few useful items:

-A combat backpack-Stimpaks, Radway, Rad-X and a few syringes of Med-X-MREs, purified water and a small purifier capable of cleaning water up to 5RADS

Taking the backpack he filled it with all the items and went on to the gunlockers where he was more lucky:

-A service rifle modified with a flashlight (on the side he found a flag with a two-headed bear on it, a flag he had never seen before)-A .45 Caliber P1911 and a swiss knife-Combat gloves, a combat armor chestplate and two combat armor legpieces

He put the armor pieces over the Enclave uniform and went over to a suitcase on a table. To his surprise he found a pip-boy 2500 mkVI in it. He slapped it on his wrist and booted it up.

Rob-Co Industries

Copyright 2075-2077 ROBCO

PIP-OS

Booting up...

Status: Nominal

Copyright 2075 ROBCO  
LOADER V1.1  
Exec Version 41.10  
64K Ram System  
38911 Bytes free  
One Holotape Found  
Load Rom (1): Deitrix 303

The holotape in the device was a digital version of Jack's map, but there also was another file on the tape that could somehow be opened, but he didn't know how.

Getting ready he just wanted to leave, when he heared aloud bang and a female voice just after: "Clear out the building! Search for any Enclave or Outcast, if you find someone take them prisoner, if they resist shoot them!" He heard another affirmativ voice "Yes Sentinel!" The so "great" Sentinel Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel was here, now Jack truly was interested, but furthermore he tried to find a way out. Sneaking past a paladin and an Initiate he heard a small part of their conversation: "...I must say Initiate Jackson, you did very well against the Enclave scum near Satcom NW-05...". As he made it to the entrance he saw a Knight guarding it. Moving out of the shadows to aim better the Knight soon spotted him. "There you are Enclave motherf-" the Knight never made it past the fifth word, as a bullet flew through his left eye visor into his brain. The bang soon got the attention of the other squad members, so Jack rushed out of the compound and ran into cover behind some rocks. Two out of the 4 remaining BoS ran out after him and a Paladin moved in his direction and started engaging him. He spotted the other Paladin trying to flank him so he placed a plasma mine a few meters behind him and continued to engage the first Paladin. In the five minutes they engaged Jack was able to break down parts of his Power Armor and headshotted him after the helmet got too much damage and exposed his head. Just as he was reloading he heard an explosion behind him. The other Paladin had tripped on the mine, which had resulted in his death.

[Same moment, In the array]

BANG! BANG!"Sentinel I think our two Paladins are dead. What are we going to do?" asked the Initiate "We will have to engage him, if he flees he could become a major threat. He has been the most difficult foe we have faced since we destroyed their bases and killed their leadership!"

[Moments later, outside]

"There he is!" said the Sentinel while firing shots in Jack's direction. Jack quickly took cover again and began shooting back with his service rifle. He suddenly saw the Initiate running towards him and to his surprise he heard the Sentinel on the other side yelling her to come back and stop her action. Jack quickly shot bursts of fire in the direction of the Initiate, whom to his surprise managed to evade all of the bullets. He started reloading his rifle, but he saw that he'd be too late, so he took out the 1911 and finally managed to shoot the Initiate. Wanting to end her quick and easy he shot her in the head. "So now its between you and me." Sarah Lyons muttered on the other side quite frankly astonished by the reflexes of her dead initiate. Readying her weapon she wanted to take out the rogue Enclave officer, who somehow had managed to take out more BoS in 10 minutes than the whole remaining Enclave together since Adams. Before she could fire a shot though the officer wanted to talk with her. "Hey Sentinel, how about we two don't kill each other?" "Yea... Dream on kiddo. That's not happening, and just so you know: killing BoS personnel has a death penalty, and in your case you killed 4." yelled the Sentinel in an angry tone "Look sweetie I killed one, but I didn't want to kill the rest." she heard the Enclave officer say "You still kil-" "Just hear me out, please. You won, ok? And I just want to leave D.C. I'm sorry about your squad, but let me go and you'll never ever hear again from me!" said the officer in a rational tone "Alright we can talk, but on my terms. Get out of your cover, hands in the air with unloaded weapons. Then you walk over and we talk." said the Sentinel "How can I be sure that you won't shoot me?" "You don't." After a moment of hesitation Jack replied "Alright I'm coming out!" slowly standing up he unloaded his weapons and raised his hand and started walking toward her. He could see the Sentinel had her firearm closeby and was aiming it at him. "Sentinel I complied, now please stop aiming your weapon at me!" slowly the Sentinel holstered her weapon and started to analyse the Enclave officer partially covered in combat armor coming towards her. She could immediately see that he was very skilled, so much even that his skills could easily challenge those of the lone wanderer and that frightened her -a lot-. "So, what do you want?" she asked "Well, as I already said you won D.C and I only want to leave and go back west. I'm sick of all the killing." was the answer of the visibly saddened officer "Alright that doesn't sound bad, you want to go west, but how and where? Do you want to go to the west-coast?" asked the Sentinel in the harsh tone "I won't be completely going to the west-coast, but somewhere near there and I want to use a train from Union Station." this surprised the Sentinel, who said "You know you will probably be attacked by one of our patrols, as it's near the center. Now let's say you will somehow get past them, where do you want to go from there?" -"Utah or Nevada"- "I need a more acurate location" "How can I make sure that you won't send kill squads after me?" asked the officer. "We got our hands full since the victory over your forces." he got as an answer "Right, alright, I am going to a place called New Canaan and I already have a plan for getting past the BoS patrols, so don't worry about that." this surprised the highranking Sentinel "Well that's certainly interesting." "I need the power armour of your dead squad members." "Fine! Use the armor but put it off somewhere so we can pick it up again!" demanded the Sentinel "I will, trust me. Thank you Sentinel. There is one other thing I have to ask you. If you find any Enclave on your way to wherever you'll go to, can you tell them to go to Union Station?" "Why do you want my to do it?" asked the Sentinel "I want that because I don't want them to end up dead in a small corner alone. I care for my brethren just like you do Sentinel!" said the officer "Fine. What do I have to do?" "Just tell them recall code Omega has been activated and they have to head for Union Station." "I will do it, but there's no guarantee that I will find any and there's no guarantee that anyone I'll find listens to me." said the Sentinel "I know that, but still I must thank you a lot for everything Sentinel." said the officer in a greatful manner "If there's any trouble and you have to leave head west, you and company will have accomodation at wherever I'm going to be." said the officer "Thank you." said the Sentinel "Although I doubt that'll ever happen." "No Sentinel I have to thank you!" "Tell me, what's your name?" "Cpt. Jack Hernandez, nice to meet you." "Sarah Lyons, nice to meet you too. Now let me help you get your new armor on..."

[30 minutes later]

With the help of Sentinel Lyons Jack was looking like any other normal Brotherhood of Steel Paladin. Soon they parted ways and Jack started heading to Union Station. Before they departed the Sentinel handed him a holotape that he was supposed to hand over to next BoS chapter he found. His route would get him past Vault 101, the place the Lone Wanderer came from, Megaton and the GNR building. At Union station he would see how he would get to his destination and then wait 12 hours for fellow Enclave personnel to arrive. He started his trek in the hope of soon being able to change his life for good.

[1 hour later]

He soon arrived near Vault 101, the sun was setting and when he arrived near the entrance he heard someone calling him "Hey Paladin, can you lend me a hand?" "Hello sir, yes of course. How can help you?" "I need someone who can help me convince the overseer of 101 to open up and align themselves with the Brotherhood." it was the Lone Wanderer "But could you tell me why or what's so important about it?" "Well after the whole turmoil of the Vault they have some problems, but they don't want help from me and won't let me in" said the LW in a sad tone "So I'm gonna go in and convince them to let you in?" "Exactly!" said the Lone Wanderer 'If I don't he'll get suspicious' thought Jack "Alright sir! I'll see what I can do!"

[5 minutes later, Vault 101 entrance door panel]

Clicking on the red button on the panel he soon heared a male voice yelling at him "No Adam, we don't have problems and we don't need your help!" "Mister, if you talk like this you won't have many friends in the wastes." after hearing static for a few seconds a female voice talking to him "This is the overseer , who am I talking to?" "This is Paladin Jefferson from the Brotherhood of Steel, how are you feeling today?" -Jefferson was his undercover name- "You don't have to play the charming one, did Adam Hernandez send you?" asked the overseer in an unenthusiastic tone "Maybe, maybe not" said Jack "But even if he didn't, it's the mission of the Brotherhood to care for each citizen and look after them." stated Jack "Alright, we may have some problems, what do you want?" asked the overseer "Let the Lone Wanderer in. I know that many probably hate him, but he can help all of you!" he could visibly feel that they really didn't like him. "And why should I?" came as a response "Having the Brotherhood as allies would be very good for you, especially when you open the vault." he could hear voices of approval in the background "Alright, tell him he can enter."

[Outside]

Jack approached the Lone Wanderer with good news. "It's all done! They're allowing you to enter. But be careful, they really don't like you." surprised the LW answered "Thank you Paladin." Jack told him that he had to continue and they parted.

 _ **Author's notes:**_

 _ **This was the second chapter, I hope you liked it!**_

 ** _Critics and Reviews are appreciated and please let me know if you'd like to have anything of the way the dialogue is written changed and how, as I don't have a clue on doing it any other way XD_**

 ** _I wanted to get the second chapter out as soon as possible, so it could be that some parts haven't been written well. As said English isn't my mother tongue so if there are any mistakes please tell me._**

 ** _As always, critics and reviews are appreciated!_**

 ** _Have a nice day/night everyone!_**


	3. Chapter 3

Fallout: A Chance To Start Anew Ch3

Jack started heading for Union Station again. The trip was uneventful, so he started thinking about his new life in the wasteland. He had been born into the ranks of the Enclave and never really experienced life in the wastes the way others did. He always had access to clean water, food, clothes and was safe growing up, while others would be enslaved, kidnapped or outright killed alongside their families. Because of that Jack knew he would have a much harder time surviving the wastes compared to others, as they had been born into it. Alone and with limited supplies it was an all or nothing scenario for Jack, either he'd make it out of D.C and the Brotherhood's reach or die, like so many had before him. He was hoping that by joining New Canaan he would find salvation…

[Union Station, 3 hours later]

After having left the T-45d power armor and killing the ghouls inside Union Station he set up his camp. There was a train in usable condition. He set up camp and waited for 12 hours.

[12.5 hours later]

He had waited half an hour longer and it had cost him. 2 Brotherhood Paladins had attacked him. He was able to repel them, but he had lost all of his combat armor in the process. Following their attack he packed everything he still had and went to the train. After activating a few switches he was ready to go. "Time for a new life" he turned the last switch and the train started moving.

 _ **Author's note:**_

 ** _I know this was a short chapter. It was only intended as a transition to the west coast. Next chapter will hopefully be out in a few days._**

 ** _And shoutout to the first two followers of the story thatonecommissar & ItsErisGamingTSA_**


	4. Chapter 4

Fallout – A Chance To Start Anew Ch. 4 : WESTWARD

He woke up to the sound loud BANG! The train had stopped and there was smoke coming out of the engine cabin. He quickly gathered everything he had and exited the damaged train. Outside he saw the extent of the damage. The train had de-railed and was starting to catch fire. He exited the building he was in – presumably a train station – and stepped onto…

"Denver!"

"Woah woah what was that?"

"What you are seeing before you are the shattered remains of the city of Denver. Once a prospering city it was in the middle of a building boom shortly before the Sino-American War, with most of the construction being housing for new citizens. But the Sino-American War disrupted the growth of the city. Massive food shortages and construction halts caused Union strikes and massive riots on the streets of the city. Building were set ablaze, sabotage and destruction hit every corner of Denver. The situation became so severe that the National Guard was called in to contain the riots, anyone who resisted carrying out those orders was imprisoned. Riot Gear was first tested in this city. It proved versatile against anything the rioters would throw against it, one of many reasons it became standardized gear in many police departments across the country in the years before the Great War. In 2073 Communist Hei Gui agents obtained samples of the New Plague and tried getting it to China. Their cover blew and they were killed near Boulder. This caused the release of a deadly disease that would claim 200,000 lives. Rioters started burning down large parts of the city to the ground as a result of paranoia and many attempted fleeing the city, but to no avail, as most people simply ran out of gasoline on the elevated part of I-70. Rioters – as paranoid as they were – decided to burn it down. It was dubbed 'The Bridge Of Death'."

"What the hell are you?" Jack said as he realized that this lecture came out of his pipboy. "I am E.D. (pronounced Edd) that's short for Eden's Database. I am based off of our glorious president John Henry Eden. I am an Artificial Intelligence and I have all the prewar and post war information that the Enclave has gathered available on call and I will automatically inform you on every location you visit based on my data." Said the 'patriotic' voice of E.D. "Charming person" was the only thing Jack thought when it came to it/him. He started heading northwestward before he was interrupted again. "You wouldn't want to head that way young captain. It's not healthy for you." Jack was starting to get annoyed by the voice, "How did you determine my age and rank?" He replied, wanting to know. E.D explained him how the PIP-BOY had different sensors and systems that kept track of the physical condition of the user's body and was able to guess the crude age of the user. E.D then proceeded to tell him why the old direction was not an ideal route, even though he never explained how he knew of Jack's rank. "You remember the New Plague I told you about? It looks like it was still around when they bombs fell, and mixed with the radiation of the nukes it mutated to something... horrifying." this actually was one of the catalysts for the Enclave's radical views on the population of the wastes "So if you're not thinking of suicide you should start heading south as soon as possible." E.D suggested him to either head down I-15 to Colorado Springs or down I-70 to Limon.

He was content that E.D's information had not been propaganda. Jack did have a question though "E.D why did you suggest two routes?" E.D. started giving him more intel. "You see, the problem with the route to Colorado Springs is that there are two very important pre war military installations in its near vicinity: Cheyenne Mountain Complex and Petersen AFB. The latter was where NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) was located at. And that's the problem: Two important military installations in the near vicinity of each other -perfect targets in the event of a nuclear exchange-. The second more important problem is that one of our working satellites in orbit detected a large conflict around ~25 years ago, which means it could be a harsh place, devastated by war." that was a solid explanation in the eyes of Jack, and while he wanted to ask E.D. some questions, the artificial intelligence residing in his PIP-Boy just continued listing the advatages and disadvantages of the different routes "...beware that Limon is a secluded location... the possible population of Limon will probably be friendly, albeit we still shouldn't pull off the 'legitimate government of the USA' number with them if they know who the Enclave are..." After E.D finally finished his speech, a very annoyed Jack started undertaking the 95 mile trek to Limon.

[20 Hours later, Agate, Colorado]

Jack had been marching straight for 20 hours now, the only signs of life were occasional mantises and bloatflies that he tried to avoid as his ammunition supply was low and was at risk of running out in the barren wasteland he had encountered until now. He had entered Agate and found no one in the small town so hee decided to set up camp in a small trailer rather than one of the larger offices as it was the better option in case of the location being a raider HQ. He made his make-shift bed and went to rest.

[7 hours later]

He woke up coughing. "Good Morning America! I am John Henry E-" E.D was stopped right in his tracks by an annoyed voice "SHUT - UP" "Oh my. Don't be so disrespectful towards your president." The PIP-Boy read that he was dehydrated and had 40c of fever and indeed he felt as if a super mutant had decided to play football with his ass while he was asleep. He drank some of his water and injected himself with MED-X to relieve the pain. After resting he packed and headed out for Limon, but fell unconscious minutes after leaving.

[ –ERROR–TIME OF DAY=? — LOCATION=? ]

"This guy's one tough son of a bitch" was the first thing he heard after regaining his consciousness. "Archie, you owe me 15 caps" said another voice in regards to the first. Jack was more than just confused after waking up in an unknown place and listening to two people about their bets on him if he'd wake up out of his coma or not. "What in the name of god..." this attracted the attention of the people in the room. "Ah yes, um, welcome to our little friendly neighborhood town. I'm Ford, the closest thing to being the doctor around here. Injecting Med-X really wasn't the most intelligent thing to do concerning what you had caught. I'll be frank, we didn't expect you to be alive when we found you." Said Ford, the de-facto town physicist. "That's all nice and all thank you for saving me" said Jack "But where is my PIP-Boy, where the hell am I, how did I end up here and who are you all?" One of the strangers stood up from where he sat, left the room, while the other came to the side of Jack's bed. "Name's Douglas Granite, we picked you up from Agate, after we received a distress signal on a very _special_ and _unique_ frequency that had been silent for more than 20 years. If it weren't for **that** we wouldn't have known that you were out there. How about we get you out of the bed?" Granite went and got the PIP-Boy while Ford helped Jack out of the bed and on his feet. Slapping it on his wrist he wanted to know more about these people "So who are you people exactly?" Jack asked Granite "Let's go out, I'll show you. But first go and get your stuff."

[ OUTSIDE ]

The weather was beautiful. The sun was out. It was warm and occasionally a cold breeze would blow, cooling you off. The town was fairly small, but it was pretty busy at that time of the day. People were going to the saloon, the general store or being out and about doing their everyday activities. "You see, we are different than any other town. We weren't always like this, you know there were times we pillaged towns like these instead of living in them. But those days have passed, we've all become old." This certainly interested Jack "So what you're trying to tell me is that you were some sort of raider band that decided to abandon its old ways." Here and there people were noticing the new arrival in town and most of them were looking as if he were an anomaly, a piece of black on a sheet of white. But Jack's attention shifted back to Granite who explained him all about the town "No, we weren't Raiders. This town is basically made up of Enclave and MidWest Brotherhood of Steel remnants. The Brotherhood in the MidWest were almost like us. They didn't see kindly to outsiders, but they didn't plan on killing them like us. They controlled some territory, but ruled it with an iron fist. During harsh times they would recruit from outside, such as 25 years ago when they fought against an A.I. They won, but they paid a high price and the vicinity of Colorado Springs is still a devastated, harsh place. They fractured and mostly dissolved after the death of most of their leadership during an accident. A splinter group formed and they left for parts unknown to never be heard from again. That was 17 years ago. 30 of them decided to join our community. Our community itself was established 22 years ago when we fled NCR after they started another campaign of hunting down Enclave Remnants after annexing New Reno. Our children, the second generation living here don't know anything about our affiliations. A few remember their infancy in NCR but most only know their lives here. In their minds they were born here and that they're "normal" people living in a plain normal town that's a big family. And although they never were a part of the Enclave they, along with their children and grandchildren will be hunted down by organizations such as NCR or the Brotherhood of Steel as soon as they find out that they have a connection with us." This revelation hit Jack like a train cruising at 100 miles, as he thought that he'd never again meet people with his background as he knew of the demise on the west coast, but here he was. The first town he arrived in was full of Enclave remnants. Granite decided to show him around town "This is the general shop, you'll find many things here to buy. Shop's run by Andrew and his wife Kelly, they were the quartermasters back in Navarro. Back there is George's Gunshop. Next to it is the market place, mostly food and crops is sold." He showed him a bit more of the town and told him that where he woke up was the clinic of the town, although it basically was the house of Ford. "And this is the saloon. It's good for everything. You want to do a job for someone and earn some caps? You want to have some booze and have a good time? Or maybe you just want to meet people? Then this the right place." Granite and Jack entered the Saloon.

-=(o)=-

The saloon was full. The 3 bartenders were working at full speed tending the customers. "Arch Dornan runs this place. I must say we were surprised when he said he wanted to run the place when we founded the town. You know Drill Sergeant and Saloon normally don't fit with each other, but this place turned out to be very good." "Who is Arch Dornan? And what is NCR? You never told me." Asked Jack. "Oh yea right. You remember the guy who left Ford's house while we were talking? That's Arch Dornan, and NCR stands for 'New California Republic'. Let's go and find him." They went to the manager section and knocked at its door. A faint 'come in' was heard so they entered. "Douglas here are your 15 caps." was the first what Arch Dornan said while handing Granite 15 caps. Granite then handed the caps to Jack. "Well, I actually came to introduce you to the young man here, actually what's your name?" Jack had forgotten to introduce himself to Granite because of the many questions he had. "My name is Jack Hernandez. I officially beared the rank of Captain until two months ago. That was when we lost Raven Rock and Adams AFB in D.C. I guess I am a sort of a deserter even though there's nothing left of us in D.C. besides some small pockets of resistance that probably have already been destroyed." That's when Dornan spoke "You didn't desert son, there wasn't anything left to desert. You are carrying on the spirit of the Enclave with you out of loyalty, but that loyalty doesn't mean that you attack NCR, BoS or any other of such factions and it also doesn't mean that you should be discriminating against wastelanders or mutants." "But it does mean that you have an obligation to cleanse our beautiful country from raider scum or people who terrorize others young Captain." Came the voice of the AI from Jack's PIP-Boy. Granite and Dornan didn't really look surprised though. After a few seconds Granite spoke "That explains the distress signal. Besides the Enclave on the West Coast was working on AI, so they probably had finished that research after arriving in D.C." The Ex-Drillsergeant invited them for a round of drinks so they went to the bar. Granite ordered some Scotch, Dornan and Jack got a beer each and they went and sat at a table. Soon a few Enclave remnants joined them and they held conversations with Jack about himself and the Enclave. They were saddened by the fact that the Enclave had also been destroyed in D.C. and that Jack had come this long way to be able to start a new life. It reminded them of their own lives and how they experienced the same things after the destruction of ControlStation Enclave and the following raid on Navarro. It all sounded too familiar to them when they heard that some "special and chosen" person and the Brotherhood of Steel were major factors to the destruction of their respective Enclave Chapters. After a few more hours of chatter Jack felt tired so he asked Granite where he could sleep for the night. Granite showed him to one of the few rooms that were reserved for visitors where he could spend some time living in. He fell to sleep immediately.

-=(o)=-

The sun was shining through the windows when he woke up from a well deserved sleep. He went and cleaned himself -he tried his best to stick to the hygiene guidelines of the Enclave but that wasn't completely possible in the Wasteland- and then got himself something to eat. After changing into his uniform he tried to find Granite, but it was to no avail. Granite was probably still sleeping. He was on the way back to his room when he was intercepted by a few 'though guys' who looked like clowns. "Feeling lost mister?" Said the one who looked like he was the leader of the gang in mockingly fashion. "No" responded Jack "But how about you turn around and go back to the place you came from?" One of them chuckled and said "Ey John, looks like this guy wants to challenge you." Jack didn't know who these guys even were "Who even are you?" - "Haven't you heard of the world famous Town Crew?" - "No, I only know of the Tunnelsnakes, but even they weren't as pathetic as you." Jack said recalling the few minutes he talked with some people on the vault 101 door intercoms of whom one had said that Tunnelsnakes ruled. That sentence definitely triggered the guy called John. "Now you crossed the line! You weakling will lose against us." He threatened Jack "I guess you're John, and if you're dreading so much for a fight, fight me one on one." John raised his fist to hit Jack, but he quickly dodged the fist and hit John back, who was fastly beaten after two well placed hits. Jack looked down on him "Remember this: I'm the one with combat training, not you." Just then Granite, Ford and some town folks arrived and Granite pulled Jack aside while John was checked by Ford. "What the hell was that?" Asked Granite "The guy bugged me, and after all that I have endured I'm not really in the mood to be bugged." Was the response that came from Jack. "Well, it'd be the best for all of us if that doesn't happen again. So promise me that you'll try to avoid open conflict as much as possible." Jack calmly promised him that something like that wouldn't happen again. A few minutes later a caravan arrived in town with some folks who had been away for a few days. A young lady was the first to get out of the caravan. "Damn, who beat up John?" She asked, inclined to know. Granite introduced his daughter to Jack and they talked a bit about what had happened and how he had arrived in town before she and the others went back to their daily schedule. Jack remembered that he was low on ammo and he wanted to change his apparel to something more like the rest of the town. He first went to the general store and bought himself a set of reinforced leather armor and a casual ranger outfit along with some miscellaneous stuff. With some of his remaining caps he went to the gunshop and got himself some ammo and a few energy cells for his Glock 86 (Plasma Defender). With the remaining caps he bought the room he was residing in and decided to settle in the town that had saved his life.

 ** _Author's notes:_**

 ** _Finally finished the "first" chapter of the story where I basically had the complete freedom of doing whatever I wanted. I don't know if it turned out well or not, that's up to you. It took me some time, I busted my knee and for distraction I wrote this._**

 ** _Cheers_**


	5. Chapter 5

[3 months later, May 2278]

It had been six months now. After he decided to settle in Limon he took on the job of patrolling around town. It was a calm job, the only problem being some geckos turning up here and there. He had become good friends with his patrol partner Tom, whom he always called Tommy. Today seemed to be just like every other day.

"So Tommy, wanna hit the Saloon after we're done?" Jack asked his partner

"Why not, I mean we don't have anything else to do, have we?" Was the response of Tommy.

Jack's attention turned to a group coming their way. An oddity for their settlement, said group was larger than the trader groups in D.C. The pair went back to the town to notify everyone of the arriving visitors. Everyone was excited for the group to arrive, but they weren't the bearers of good news.

"Welcome back old friends, is there something we can do for you?" Granite greeted the arriving caravan. "I wished we came here under better circumstances" said the middle-aged man leading the group "New Canaan has been brutally attacked, many have been slaughtered and others have been captured. Can you help us free the captured?"

The visitors told that a new faction had risen called Caesar's Legion. The Legion -as they learned- was predominantly active in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. "They are slavers. Women become slaves by Legion Law, children will be trained to become canon fodder, men that are fit have to fight for the Legion and everyone else is killed one way or the other."

"But why did they attack you in the first place?" Ford asked the visitors "We reaccepted Joshua Graham into our community after the Legion's defeat at Hoover Dam at the hand of the NCR. The Legion wanted him dead, so after they found out that we had given him refuge, a tribe called the Whitelegs was tasked with the destruction of New Canaan and every Canaanite. And that's what happened 12 days ago. After we dropped off the survivors to a safe place we came here to ask for help."

Jack was confused. How did they know of this place if it never had any contact with the outside? Were they Legionaries, or just some raiders trying to lure them into a trap? "How do you know of this place anyway?" He asked them "I thought no one knew of this place."

"They do. It's a long story of why they know our town." Granite then asked the Canaanites if they didn't want to stay for the night before returning back to liberate their people. They accepted the invitation as it was late in the afternoon already.

[ 2 hours later, The Saloon]

Jack sat himself next to the leader of the Canaanite group that had arrived that day. He had become curious about them, as he wanted to find out more about the town his mother came from.

"You never told me what's your name." Jack asked the leader of the group. "Call me Saul. Who are you? Never saw you in town till today." Apparently this person had been to the town more than once. "I'm sort of new in town. Tell me: How do you know of this town?" Saul chuckled "More than 20 years ago we lost New Jerusalem and then founded New Canaan. It was a very difficult time for us, we were constantly being attacked by raiders or mutated animals. Then one day Enclave troops started arriving stating that they were on their way through. We were scared because they thought they wanted to kidnap us, but instead they started helping us establish our town. They eventually moved on after we were able to easily live without their help. The daughter of my brother went with them. She had fallen in love with one of the soldiers." Was that woman his mother? Or was it someone else? Jack wanted to know "What was her name? Was it Jessica?" Saul looked at him with a surprised look "H- How do you know that? Jack ignored his question and pulled out a picture out of his pocket, the same picture he had pulled out months ago after Adams AFB had been destroyed. "Does the person on the picture look like her?"

Saul couldn't anymore. The middle-aged man sat there, silently looking at the picture, not moving a muscle. "I guess you're my uncle aren't you?" Saul hugged Jack "Yes I am, Yes I am. Tell me how is your mother is she doing well? Is she happy?" Jack didn't really want to tell him of the demise of the Enclave, but the situation left him no choice. "She- She is in a better place." They talked with each other for a long time, before Jack decided that he needed some rest.

-=(o)=-

The next morning the Canaanites were getting ready to move out and back to New Canaan. Some tough guys Jack never understood were going with them.

"Thank you for the help Granite. God bless you and your town. Alright let's get go-" Saul was interrupted by The Battlehymn Of The Republic blasting out of Jack's PIP-BOY "You guys still got a spot open?" He was standing there, fully equipped and wearing his uniform. "It's been a long time since I last heard that song" Granite mumbled under his breath. "Yes, if you'd like to accompany us, we still have a spot open. You will need this gas mask though, we're heading through Denver." Jack went to get the mask, but got pulled aside by Granite "Listen kid, when we established the town we first stowed most of our equipment away. If you need high quality equipment at any time for any reason: Our Vertibirds and Aerial equipment is stored in Peterson AFB and the rest is stored in a military depot in Pueblo, now good luck to you kid." Jack put on the gas mask and the group departed, heading into the deadliness of Denver.

-=(o)=-

They'd been on the road for 3 days when they reached the outskirts of Denver. The group were briefed by Saul about the challenges ahead "Alright people, the party starts now. No more joking, don't play the hero and try not to be killed. If you want to go somewhere never go alone. Always be at least in pairs. We'll be spending 3 days and 2 nights in there, so if you wanna go back to the town, now's your last chance." No one had decided to return, so they got ready and they went into Denver.

-=( Two Hours Later )=-

Everything had been going flawlessly until now. The area they were in didn't require them to wear their gas masks and the only living things they'd encountered were the stray dogs that were the reason Denver was also called Dog City. After they had set up camp in the lobby of a skyscraper, Saul and Jack went out to explore the area. "Tell me, how was New Canaan?" Jack asked him "It was beautiful, before those damn Whitelegs destroyed it." He answered with visible hatred. Suddenly something moved in the shadows. It was larger than a dog but not large enough for a super mutant. Jack aimed his service rifle at the shadow and demanded them to come out. "Alright, I'm coming out but don't shoot like no foo'" a dark skinned man in a convict uniform came out with his hands raised up. "Who do you work for?" "I'm working for the NCR, Parker's gang, who the fuck are you?" The man said. "We're just heading through, so no worries." The man then looked at them "Ay man, you got some extra medicine or food to trade? We have been eating dogs for 6 months and our medical supplies are practically nonexistent." Saul told the man that they couldn't decide alone and had to talk with their group to make a decision, so he invited him to come to the camp.

-=( At The Camp )=-

What expected them at the camp was a truly horrifying sight. The lobby was full of blood and all of the group had been slaughtered. They were all dead, but the weird thing was that all of the equipment was still there. Sauk then saw a group of men in red armor watching them, while on the other side Jack saw three others, a dark skinned man with dreadlocks, a man with graying hair and a man whose face was covered by goggles and a dog head helmet. The three then approached them and Jack pulled out his weapon "It's not a wise idea to pull out that weapon, Mormon." Said the monotone voice of the man wearing the dog helmet. "No, he isn't a Mormon, he is a man of the old world." The deep voice of the man with the dreadlocks said, while he pointed at the a Enclave logo sitting on the officer hat of Jack "That is of no matter Ulysses. What does matter is that we won't kill you like the rest of the degenerates, you instead will go and tell your Mormon friends why you should never challenge Caesar's Legion. _Receptum!_ " And with that the Legion retreated, leaving the three with the dead corpses of the rest of the group. "I'm afraid we can't spare anything." Saul said after they stood there in silence.

"Then take me with you."

"Excuse me?" Jack said "You're a convict." The man acknowledged that, but he still insisted to join them "Man, I don't need NCR up my ass, you know that right?" He then handed the man some of his Stimpaks and some Mentats "This is all we can spare, but we can't take you with us." The man was content that he at least had gotten something, so he wished them good luck in their remaining journey and vanished in the shadows once more. Jack and Saul then took everything that they could before heading out and continuing to their original destination.

-=( 36 Hours Later )=-

Buffed up on chems they had been walking for 36 hours when they decided to rest for some time. As they got ready to leave the next day they were approached by...

"Ulysses" Jack shouted and pointed his weapons at him "What are you doing here? Following us for your Legion buddies?" The African-American just looked at him with a cold stare before slowly answering with his deep voice "I am not following you in favor of my 'Legion buddies' for my time with the bull has passed. I have parted ways with the bull and I decided that following your trail would be the most logical decision." Jack started laughing. "Yeah, the most logical decision if you want to get yourself killed!" Saul told him. "The bull completely eradicated my tribe, I am the last known twisted hair alive. Now I am trying to save your tribe from total annihilation by the Whitelegs. That is of course if you would stop laughing and wasting time." Saul asked Ulysses a question "But why did you leave the Legion to join us?" Ulysses looked at Jack "Because the man of the old world is not someone I want to have as an enemy. The horrors of the Legion is something no one should experience. So I am going to ask you again. Can I accompany you as the third member of the group?" After a long but not necessarily healthy conversation they decided to accept his request and the trio set off to head to the survivors of the New Canaan massacre.

-=(8 days later, near Ogden, Utah)=- 

They had finally arrived in Utah. On the way the only thing that happened was that they came across a national guard depot, but they avoided it because it's security systems were still active. Saul looked around and then stopped "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns." Then out of nowhere came another voice "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready." A third voice was heard this time "Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." Two armed men came out of their cover and walked toward them "Welcome back. Where are the others?" "They're dead Henry, they're dead." Saul answered.

"At least you got someone." The other man said.

"Yeah, I did. Now let's get in, it's getting late." Saul said.

-=(inside the cave)=-

There were roughly 30 Canaanites hiding in the cave, most of them being women and children, afraid of what might happen with them. There was also a super mutant present, but it seemed to be friendly. Jack and Ulysses followed Saul to the end of the cave where two men were involved in a heavy discussion

"John how many times should I tell you? If we try attacking them we'll be slaughtered." The man in a priest outfit said. "But Alexander, if we sit and do nothing they will find us anyway. We need to attack them and if we are lucky we'll catch them by surprise and we can escape."

"Excuse me" Saul said "I'm back from the mission" The man named Alexander looked at him "And was it a success? Did we get help?" John was not looking at them "We did, but unfortunately the Legion attacked. We three are the only ones remaining." John then stood up "Excellent. Excellent. We lost people and we got these two losers as a replacement." Jack didn't take this kindly "I'm tougher than all of you together, so if I were you, I'd be careful to not say something wrong." John looked at him again "You really have a big mouth, don't you?" Jack did get annoyed, he hadn't come all the way since D.C. for this. "Come on, just stop being annoying. I didn't survive the destruction of the Enclave for this. For fuck's sa-" "What did you just say?" John had turned all of his attention to Jack "I said that I did not survive the destruction of the Enclave for thi-" John walked towards Jack.

"Why didn't you tell this sooner soldier? Sitrep. How many survived?" Jack looked at him with empty eyes, as the memories of the destruction of the Enclave came pouring in again. "I don't know, it was a few months ago, and I didn't hear anything about anyone else." John was visibly saddened "First Control Station Enclave, then Navarro and now Raven Rock and Adams AFB. What has become of our country... Name, rank and serial-number soldier?" Jack was surprised that John knew of Raven Rock and Adams. "Jack Hernandez, Captain, serial-number is Epsilon-November-Zulu-6-10-72. How do you know of Raven Rock and Adams and what is your rank?"

"Colonel John Bragg. CO Enclave Squad Leonidas, or at least what's left of it. I was on the east coast for a short time before I turned back west. In fact we have 4 more Enclave members in here. You were part of Zulu Division right?" Jack responded "My serial-number gives it away doesn't it?" John chuckled "Yeah, yeah. I've heard some stuff about Zulu Division and I want you to tell me more." Jack and John talked for a few hours before Jack decided to have a rest.

He went outside and saw Ulysses sitting alone so he decided to sit next to him. "Tell me, what do you want to do after we're done here?" Jack asked him "A few months ago while I was on a scouting mission a found a small settlement built over the remains of the cities of Ashton and Hopeville. It felt like it could give me a new chance at living a life out of the reach of the Bull. When I saw you -the man of the old world- I decided that it was time." Jack was surprised "But why? What is so important about me? And why do you call me the 'man of the old world'?" Ulysses answered promptly "The Banner that you serve under. I saw that banner multiple times in Hopeville and Ashton. So I must urge you to come with me after we are done here."

 ** _AN:_**

 ** _This was chapter 5. It's probably just as bad as the rest of the story, yea this story is probably pretty bad._**

 ** _Anyway I used some Van Buren Info and Of course the wonderful Fallout: New Vegas mod New California as John Bragg and Enclave Squad Leonidas are from that mod._**

 ** _By the way, I did include a person from a completely different franchise as an Easter egg. Can you find said person?_**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6: ATTACK ON THE WHITELEGS AND A FAREWELL**

The next morning Jack found Bragg, Saul and Ulysses in a room planning the attack on the Whitelegs. "Good morning." Jack greeted them as he entered. They greeted him back. "Soldier we are going to attack the Whitelegs today. Are you ready?" Bragg asked him. "Yes I am, how are we going to attack them?" The Colonel pulled out a small device and activated it, showing a holographic map. "This is the camp. As you can see there's a mountain to its eastern side. We can only attack them from the south, north and west. There will be three strike teams; Strike Team Alpha (Strike One), Strike Team Bravo (Strike Two) and Special Strike Team Charlie (Strike Three). We have 13 people who would have a chance at surviving. Strike One consists of 5 people, as well as Strike Two. Captain, you will lead Strike Three along with 2 others. One of them is Jimenez, the best special operative of Leonidas Squad. You can choose the other member. I need the other three of Leonidas for Strike One and Two. Under my command Strike One will attack from the north to lure them out of their base. Once they've distanced themselves enough from the base, Strike Two will cut them off from the behind out of the Southwest. This is where you come into the game." He pointed at Jack "Strike Three will enter the base from the South while we keep the Tribals at bay. Take everything that's valuable, free the prisoners, arm everyone who can fight and open up a third front. Captain, go and locate Jimenez. Dismissed." With that Jack left the room to find Jimenez.

After a long search and with the help of a few people, Jack finally found Jimenez sitting in a corner cleaning a gun. "So you're Jimenez huh?" Jack asked him "Yeah, you're the Captain right? I already know the details of the mission so just tell me; Who is going to be the third member?" Jack actually didn't know so he asked Jimenez. "That friend of yours, the unfunny guy with the mask seems to be a good candidate. Have you asked him yet?" "No I haven't." was the response of Jack. "But I will. Good suggestion Jimenez."

He found Ulysses at the same spot as the night before. Jack asked him if he was in a Strike Team, to which Ulysses said that indeed he was a part of Strike One and that he was confident that the operation was to be successful.

After asking other people to join Strike Three, Jack returned to specialist Jimenez, "I guess we'll be operating as a pair. I hope that's ok with you.", Jimenez just looked at him the way he always did, a cold but somehow soothed look. "No problem, more kills for us am I right?" Jack just laughed and agreed, he then went to rest as tomorrow was the big day.

-=( The Next Day )=-

"... believe and trust in your god and country. Good hunting men!" Jack -fully equipped wearing his uniform- entered the room just as Colonel Bragg finished his speech before the battle. He then found operative Jimenez, who was also fully equipped, wearing his own unique 'Enclave Specialist Armor'. It was an officer uniform with a green camouflage pattern painting along with a pair of stealth boots. The two men just stood there looking at each other, "Today's the big day huh?" Jack broke the silence. "Yeah, I guess you could say that, but if all goes to plan it'll be a slaughter fest anyway." Jimenez answered. "That's where you're wrong Jimenez. As an Enclave Captain there's one valuable lesson I learnt. A plan never survives enemy contact."

-=( One Hour Later )=-

Strike Three was trailing behind Strike One Two, with the reason being that they wanted to give the Whitelegs an unpleasant surprise. Minutes later Strike One engaged the Whitelegs from the north and over the radio Jack heard Bragg order Strike Two to get into position Southwest of the current fire exchange between Strike One and the Whitelegs. Orders were to attack them 2 minutes from the point of receiving the order.

[ One minute and thirty seconds later ]

"Alright people, this is it!" Said one of the Leonidas troopers. "The Coordinated attack on the Whitelegs will shatter them and give Strike Three time to free all the prisoners. Looking at his watch the operative finally gave the order to attack. And so it was that the Mormons thought that they had the Whitelegs cornered.

[ Two minutes later ( 4 minutes after the attack of Strike One ), 100 meters behind ]

Jack and Jimenez were observing the battle through their glasses, while waiting for the order to sneak into the camp. Jimenez then suddenly exclaimed "Chief, we got a problem. Look! There! They're trying to flank Strike One!" Jack turned to the direction Jimenez was looking at. _'More Whitelegs?! Where did they come from?'_ He thought. In an instance he grabbed his radio "Strike One, you got more hostiles trying to flank you from the back, acknowledge." They waited, but no acknowledgement came from Strike One. "Strike One, acknowledge, over." They tried once more, but even then they failed in receiving an acknowledgement.

[ 2 1/2 min. earlier (1 1/2 min. after the attack of Strike One , Whiteleg contingent returning from a pillage run ]

 _"Boss, Listen. Someone is attacking us with the loud and advanced bows."_ Said a Whiteleg in their native language. Another one then said _"Indeed, we are being attacked by the Canaanites."_ This time their leader spoke _"Then we will KILL them ALL!" _He said _"SaltUponWounds will be pleased, along with Caesar! As the representative of SaltUponWounds who is headed for Zion and as the emissary of Caesar it is my task to behead these degenerates!_ "

[ 3 minutes later ( 4 1/2 minutes after the attack of Strike One), Unknown ]

"It looks like some people are attacking the Whitelegs already." Said a man in bandages. "God shall be with them." He then turned to his small group and ordered them to move toward the two combatant groups.

[ 30 seconds later (5 minutes after the attack of Strike One), 100 meters behind Strike Two ]

They had tried contacting Strike Two, but they hadn't answered either. "Rise 'n shine Jimenez. We're heading into the camp." Jimenez wanted to protest but Jack didn't allow him to.

They started running towards the encampment. One the way they fought against two Whitelegs. Killing them both the arrived at the camp and started searching for prisoners. They were shocked to see that the Whitelegs had already slaughtered every single prisoner. Jack could see that Jimenez was going to go beserk if he didn't intervene. "I know that these people may have been your friends, but don't full crazy, it's not healthy." Jimenez looked at him, eyes looking colder than they already were. "These weren't only my friends, they were my family. I'm gonna kill all these fucking tribals." Jimenez exclaimed, th n started running toward the Whitelegs that were fighting Strike Two. He killed one with a knife, shot another in the head and then went on a rampage. They defeated them in a matter of minutes.

When they arrived to help out Strike One they could see that the Whitelegs were already dead and that another group, not from their party, had arrived. Their leader seemed to be covered in bandages. What was weird to Jack was that these people somehow knew each other. _'Eh, probably just some other Mormons who survived New Canaan.'_ But then he heard something that got his interest " _Thank you for the help Joshua..._ " Jack was amazed. ' _Was this Joshua Graham? The Malpais Legate? The man who had served the Legion before they betrayed him?'_ No, it couldn't be.

That was when Bragg approached him. "Soldier, you look like your face got nuked. What happened?" Jack was still observing the man in the bandages "Captain I asked you a question." Jack unfroze and answered Bragg. "They're all dead Colonel, all dead. Massacred by the Whitelegs." Jack then left for the bandaged man.

"Excuse me, are you Joshua Graham?" He asked "Yes that's me." The bandaged man said "but who are you? I never saw you in New Canaan." Jack chuckled "You see, I'm not really from around here..." and he then proceeded to tell him his story of how he ended up where he was.

After everyone talked and argued about the failed operation, as they weren't able to get anyone out alive, Joshua Graham offered them to join his cause and head for Zion. After much debate they agreed. "Youngster, ready to head for Zion?" Jack turned around to see Saul and Col. Bragg standing behind him "Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately I can not accept. I'm headed westward with Ulysses. If there's anything I could do for you tell me." Bragg did have a request "Could you, uh, track down my sister Chevy for me? She lives in a Vault along with the Leonidas Squad members that didn't join me. My sister and I, we didn't part on good terms. Please just find her and tell her that I'm sorry for everything and that I hope she's doing fine." Jack understandingly looked at him "I can do that, but tell me what happened." He demanded. "Fine. After we failed to execute a plan against NCR we split up. We had standing orders to return back to D.C. but many of us didn't want to go back. My sister , my XO (executive officer/2nd in command) was one of them. But as CO I couldn't just leave. We found a vault that needed new dwellers, so we dropped them off there, headed for a base in Utah, where we left the Vertibirds that we didn't need and then headed for D.C.. I had decided to stay in D.C. but I couldn't stay there. I don't know why. So I, along with Jimenez and the other 3 remaining active members of Leonidas flew back to Utah, where we lived with the Canaanites." Jack was surprised that were people who had endured more than him. "Alright I will definitely track her down." He then looked at his Uncle, Saul "Sorry that I couldn't hang around longer, but I will be back. I promise you that." - "It's alright. Your road and journey hasn't come to an end yet. Just don't get yourself killed out there." The trio laughed and Jack did have one last thing to tell them. "Same goes for you. And Bragg; keep Leonidas Squad together. The day that I return will be very important for the Enclave."

He then went to Ulysses. "I'm ready, let's go. We'll have to take a small detour though."

 _And so it was that the Enclave Officer who had cheated death helped the Mormon remnants relocate to Zion Canyon, a safe Haven. The Whitelegs, after suffering a heavy blow by the hands of the Enclave Officer, decided to move everyone to Zion in hopes of eradicating every last Canaanite survivor. But that's a story for another day._

 _ **Authors note:**_

 _ **So this is it. Finally finished the first major story arc. The next arc will be a semi-major one, and after that we will head for the major New Vegas arc. But the arc won't begin where New Vegas begins. It sort of already has begun. But that's a story for another day.**_

 _ **Likes and comment are appreciated.**_

 _ **Cheers**_


	7. Chapter 7

**A NEW BEGINNING**

 _'So it begins. A new journey. In hopes of a new life. From what Ulysses has been telling me, Ashton and Hopeville will be perfect for me. Secluded, but modern. It also has some technology to look at. From what I remember NCR isn't really friendly towards anyone who has had any affiliation with the Enclave, so I should probably change clothes as soon as possible. As long as they don't find out I'm going to be fine. But first, let's head to that vault that Bragg had told me to go to.'_ Jack checked the map of his Pipboy. Vault 2 was a day's walk away. Fortunately the Vault was on the route to their destination. The Pipboy showed that they were currently in the prewar state of Nevada. _'These Pipboys are good things, no wonder that Wanderer guy was so good...'_

[The next day]

Jack was finally adapting to the Wasteland. Gone were the days of the luxury in the Enclave. They had finally reached the Vault entrance after an exhausting walk under the Mojave sun. This time he didn't pass out, which was an _improvement_ to the last time. The vault door was closed. "I remember that there was a way to open these vault door using your device." Ulysses commented, as Jack went to the only available interface console in the entrance cave of the vault. And Ulysses was right. Graved in on the console was a guide on how to connect the Pipboy to the console to open the heavy vault door. "Alright... insert the General Pipboy Interface Connector, also called the Ge.P.I.Co into the connection port on the console... Once a connection has been made, general information of the Pipboy and Vault will be listed on the display of your trusty device... After the data exchange has finished, the user can use the red button to open the vault door and enter the vault. Thank you for trusting Vault-Tec! Vault-Tec! A good investment for YOUR future!" Jack repeated the steps shown and indeed the alarm of the opening of the vault door started to sound. The heavy door pulled back and rolled to the left, revealing a bridgeway to the vault area. A log had been saved in his Pipboy, showing the process of the opening of the Vault door.

 _" HEAVY ENCRYPTION DETECTED... E.D.S. (Enclave Decryption Software) ATTEMPTING TO BYPASS... BYPASS COMPLETE! Connecting... Recognizing... Authenticating... Authentication complete... Recognition process completed... Recognition code 'VAULT-002-97/122-89301NV'... Recognition code accepted... PIPBOY RECOGNITION PROGRESS IN PROGRESS. DO NOT DISCONNECT DEVICE. Recognizing... Authenticating... AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE... PIPBOY-2000VI-89123 Recognition process completed... Recognition code 'VAULT-076-102/122-WV'... Recognition code accepted... Connection established... Welcome to Vault 2."_

They were being aimed at by several officers before they even set foot onto the interiors of the Vault. " _Halt! Who are you and how did you open this door?!_ " Was what they heard from the lead security officer. "Relax, we're friendly. And as to how we opened the door, we used this decice called the Pipboy." He shouted over. " _Stop being funny you jackass, we had encrypted that lock, how the hell did you breach that encryption_?" the officer shouted back. Seemed to be a woman. "Do I look like an egghead to you lady? And no, pokerface next to me isn't an egghead either."

[On the other side]

Terra was annoyed -a lot-. Since Chevy had injured herself and had to remain in the infirmary, Terra had to take over as acting security chief for the time being. And now she had a situation on her hands. Somehow the security encryptions for the vault door opening mechanism were being breached by the second. All active security officers and acting chief were being ordered to the entrance section, while the officers on leave were getting ready to join the possible upcoming fight. _'AND IT HAD TO HAPPEN exactly when I was finally getting some real rack time. I'm gonna kill these motherfuckers so hard._

A minute later she was at the entrance with 8 other officers, all being armed with the best the armory could offer. She was handed a walkie talkie by one of the officers. _"Terra this is Chevy. Keep calm, you're ready for this. No worries alright?"_ was what the security chief told her from the infirmary. _'No worries, no worries at all Terra.'_ The Vault door finally opened, but instead of a pack of raiders there were only two men, or at least she thought they were two men, as the focused security lights only made her see their silhouettes.

"Halt! Who are you and how did you open this door?!" she shouted " _Relax, we're friendly. And as to how we opened the door, we used this decice called the Pipboy."_ This got on her nerves "Stop being funny you jackass. We had encrypted that lock. How did you breach it?" She determined that the one, who had held up his left hand was the one with the PIPBOY. She received her answer " _Do I look like an egghead to you lady? And no, pokerface next to me isn't an egghead either._ " After a small exchange she told them, in order to enter, they had to surrender and give their weapons to vault security. The two men complied.

 _"I told you that we're friendly."_ the same man said, while walking towards them with his hands up " _Uh and by the way, There's a letter a have to deliver to some Chevy Bragg person. I was told they live here."_ That sentence totally threw her off track. He had come closer, so she was able to see a lot more, and what she saw was not something she had expected. _'No way. That is NOT an Enclave Uniform. You've got to be kidding me. Lord Almighty save me."_ \- "No time to waste, you're coming with me. Diesel! Call everyone from 'The Old Brigade' and get all to sickbay. After that, you head there as well."

[10 minutes later]

After informing the overseer, Terra grabbed the man along to the infirmary.

[infirmary/sickbay]

There was a discussion going on between several vault dwellers when Terra stormed into sickbay, dragging along a payload with her.

"So that's why it took you so long Te- I see." was the only reaction from one person. Meanwhile, Jack was trying to put himself tigether after being dragged through a damned Vault "Greetings, fellow Americans, the courier is coming in with a hot package" he said in a sarcastic tone "Now, who of you is this Chevy Bragg I was tasked to give a package to?" The woman on the bed answered "That would be me, please give me the package." Jack gave her the package "John said he's sorry for everything. Everything else he wanted to say is in the package." Most people had mixed feelings. Some were happy that the Colonel had survived, some weren't. Chevy had a neutral expression on her face "So John sent you huh? How's he doing up in D.C.? Did his mentee rise up to be the champ of thr Enclave? And why and how did you come all the way down here? He could've sent me the stuff digitally." All faces were looking at Jack "Uh, you see, Bragg didn't send this from D.C. He literally gave me this a few days ago. He and the rest of Leonidas are with some Canaanites. As for me, well, basically the Enclave got destroyed anand I ventured out west to start a new life. And I guess you guys were part of Leonidas." Chevy had started reading the note in the package. In the package was also a Leonidas Squad Insignia. She had suddenly become angry and had thrown the insignia towards Jack. " _Screw Him! Screw you John! Fuck you. Fuck you. I hate you John!"_ after her outbreak Jack crept out of his cover "Damn girl, I'm just the delivery guy. I deliver the pizza, I don't make it." Chevy had regained control of herself "Get. Out. Now" she pointed to the exit. Jack quickly went out of the infirmary and headed to the Atrium.

[Meanwhile, Computer Labs]

Overseer Eckhart was talking to the computer technicians about the breach. "I need an explanation. Right now. How did he get through the security?" One of the technicians answered "Sir, it wasn't his work. He and his friend are both rather the fighter type" the other technician took over "However it seems that there are some programs, files and information, that is not to be found on any other PIPBOY. His PIPBOY seems to be more customized than the personal pipboy of a normal dweller. It seems to have... extra options..." Overseer Eckhart wasn't really relieved after hearing the information. "And what are these _'extra options'_ exactly what you're saying?"

"The Pipboy seems to have an advanced electronics package installed, hardware and software, along with an A.I. This combo allowed him to open the door." The Overseer looked in horror to what the technician had just said. Anyone with a pip boy that was slightly different than a standard one could easily penetrate their defenses and roll into the vault.

[Atrium]

The Atrium reminded Jack of Raven Rock. It reminded him of a time of peace, a time of prosperity. The elevated position of his family had secured him a place at the officer's academy. Most of his old classmates weren't that lucky. They had to enlist and got shipped out. But that didn't matter as most of them were dead anyway. Snapping out of his memories he spotted Ulysses, sitting all alone at a separate table. After taking some food from the cantine he sat himself next to his travel partner.

"So Pokerface, what's on the agenda today?"

"Why do you call me 'Pokerface'?" He asked Jack with the same voice as always.

"It's just a nickname. I was bored and I saw that you always have the same face expression, no matter what happens. So I came up with 'Pokerface'."

"That is not a logical explanation."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

A call came over the Vault Intercom "Visitors Jack Hernandez and 'Pokerface', please head to the security section immediately. I repeat, Jack Hernandez and 'Pokerface', please had to security immediately!"

"That's our call Pokerface. Let's go!" Jack exclaimed while standing up to leave.

[Vault Security, 5 minutes later]

Vault security was located 2 floors over the Atrium. The place was smaller than one would think it should've been. And at the commander's table sat one Terra Mayson, not looking specially happy. A guard escorted them in.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to know, why the fuck you're here." Ulysses shrugged. Jack answered "Remember that letter that made that Chevy person freak out? Well, I'm the delivery guy. I deliver the mail. That's it."

Terra took some notes before taking to them again. "You two are going to leave this vault tomorrow. And you shall not come back. But before that, Enclave man, Chevy wants to have a talk with you."

[Medbay]

Ulysses had gone back to the Atrium. Jack had just arrived at the medbay. "Crazy woman told me you wanted to talk with me." He said "Yes I do. I would like to tell you why we left, and why I flipped out when you gave the letter. You see, we destroyed a vault of innocent humans just because we were ordered to. We did it, but it was brutal, very brutal. I guess that along with other brutal battles was the turning point for me and basically everyone else. If you're looking to join an Enclave contingent sometime in the future, there was one that went somewhere up north." she handed him the Leonidas badge "And keep this, pin it to your uniform next to your Zulu badge if you want to. Now leave and don't come back."

He did as she said, and Ulysses and him left the Vault the next morning. They tirelessly marched for another week. Then they arrived.

"This is it. Salvation."


	8. Chapter 8

"This is it, salvation."

Jack was filled with emotions. He had finally made it to his safe haven. A place for him to rebuild, to forget his past. That was exactly what Hopeville was all about. It was a place for all those, who were banished from civilization, due to one reason or another. No one cared about your past affiliations, only about your stories and adventures from the past. Because in the end, everyone in this small region between old-world Nevada and California, in post-war America, was deemed guilty of a major crime by civilization in one way or another. But this "dream" soon shattered.

Ulysses and Jack started their decend into the settlement. As they closed in on the city, he could see many buildings that were situated in a clear stripe of land. Ulysses had told him that it was called "the mile" as it was the main part of the settlement where most of the people lived in.

There was a medical building occupied by several followers of the apocalypse and some seriously advanced Auto-Docs. He could also see "Jack's Inn", " Stacy's Diner", "Jackal Barter Shop", " James Dean's General Shop" and "Gunshop of Steel".

Once they arrived, all eyes were upon them. Jack could hear some people murmur about the Enclave and why he was here. That didn't last long though, as they were approached by 2 middle-aged men.

"Welcome back Ulysses, I see you brought a friend with you." the older one of the two spoke, "Yes, he was mindlessly headed west, so I decided to bring him along after our paths crossed each other."

The younger one of the two still looked at Jack with distraught, as if something was not right.

"Is there something wrong with me, chief?", Jack asked him, "Yeah. You're Enclave, that's what's wrong." was his response, "I guess the fame outrunned me once more. Seems like the boys didn't do good shit out here either. Anyway, you're probably Brotherhood, aren't you?", the man looked at him, " I WAS Brotherhood. That was before we decided to go mad and attack NCR out of greed. Me and some of my boys and gals deserted after High Command decided to go into Total War mode and destroy the Redding Gold Reserve in a suicide mission. NCR went beserk after that. We fled our bunker with a lot of equipment and supplies just before it was annihilated by NCR Rangers. But right now we are not talking about me, we are talking about you Enclave Scum." he answered.

Someone else spoke up, he seemed to have been a raider sometime in the past. "You see, the last time anyone of us saw one of you Enclave Fucks they were trying to kill us. So understand that we're not too keen to see one of you guys out here."

An older man intervened, just before everything would've escalated and gone to hell. "Please, calm down. We all have been savages. We have all been xenophobic and done terrible things. That man is no different than you are. Only his affiliation has made you unite against a common enemy as a mob, as the Enclave is the faction that every single one of you hates to eternity. But always remember, you all were just as evil as him." He said, "Maybe, but we didn't try to genocide everyone. You as an Arroyan should know that better than the rest."

Arroyo was the village that the Enclave raided for its FEV tests. It's suffice to day that the Chosen One, the destroyer of the Enclave, was pretty pissed when he found out. But something was different about this Arroyan.

"But I was exiled. I was exiled out of that place. It doesn't really make a difference for me when it comes to that place." the eldest answered.

"Why not try to accept me?" Jack said "I'm outnumbered and outgunned, I can do any damage. Let me just live somewhere near here, there's definitely a small shack or something somewhere?"

"Sure you will pull out some FEV out of your ass and fuck us all. No thank you! Go to hell!"

was the response once more.

"Man, if this is gonna satisfy your enclave phobic asses I'm fuckig gonna say it. The only reason I'm here is because I do NOT have a better place to go to rather than your degenerate unpure asses." he exclaimed in fury as he was slowly starting to go mad. Suddenly every motion around him stopped. Everyone just... looked at him.

A sigh. "I guess I'll just take that bunker-esque hut that is up there." he pointed at a place he had just found. "That is if y'all have no problem. No answer? I'm taking that as a yes. I promise you won't see me often and I will not 'pull out some FEV out of my ass'."

"That place has a lot of cleaning up to do. Are you sure you can handle it?" asked the old man from Arroyo.

"Yes. I can. I survived the onslaught up in DC. Cleaning up a hut won't be too difficult."

It turned out the "hut" was larger than a hut. It was a small bunker that was pretty well-equipped. It had a computer core, which could be connected to his pip boy. There was also all the general stuff like a gun station, a kitchen, an ammo station etc... There was also a pretty advanced auto-doc connected to the computer core, but it was busted, just like the core itself. After several hours of work, the bunker was in an acceptable shape. He changed clothes and hung up the old Enclave Uniform. He had put on the set of relaxed pre-war outfit that had been in the bunker.

He went out and explored the town. It didn't take him too long as it was pretty small, but he did learn some new stuff.

The town basically survived through the work of couriers. They would bring in Information, Goods and caps to keep the economy afloat. The Divide simply couldn't produce goods and handle its own population. The region was exposed to a failed experiment from a place called the 'Big Empty', which caused all the dust storms. The ground simply wasn't usable to grow crops, only small portions of the soil were made usable by an experimental fertilizer that had been found in the vicinity. Because of that cattle raising was also not possible. The information mainly came from the NCR in the west, as the couriers rarely went eastward. The town always tried to avoid the turmoil in the Mojave and eastward. It couldn't really either, because the town was under NCR Control because of how vital of a supply line it was for them and because of that there would always be clashes between local NCR Garrisons and Legion attackers.

One of the couriers had been killed by a Legion surprise attack, which meant that a courier was needed to refill the position. Initially, Jack didn't even think of becoming a courier, but after seeing that there was nothing to do, he decided that he could try it out.


End file.
